After the heartbreaking shootings in Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Binghamton, preceded by mass shootings of innocent people in North Carolina, in Alabama before that, all I can do is ask people to read lyrics that were inspired by Bob Herbert's April 26, 2007 column "Hooked On Violence" in The New York Times.  We can't shrug and say it's OK that all these innocent people are being killed senselessly.  Since I'm a songwriter the best thing I can do is write about this and hope it will help open some minds when it comes to our weak gun laws.  

Of all the songs I have written, this one gets the most email, most of it angry with me for writing it.  I think it's more important to KNOW rather than NOT KNOW what the statistics are.  If you are a gun owner and this song angers you, I'll say to you what I say to all the angry gun owners who write to me:  DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER.  

In 1968 Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King
were killed by bullets, a tragic shameful thing
And in the years that followed in this land of the free
how many more Americans would die in a shooting spree?

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention
tracks this data down and brings it to our attention
From 1968 to now the number killed by guns
stuns

More than one million Americans -- babies, toddlers, mothers
more than one million Americans -- fathers, sisters, brothers
More than one million Americans -- students, teachers, brides
More than one million American murders and suicides

more than one million Americans -- neighbors, daughters, sons
more than one million Americans -- killed by guns
more than a million American families miss someone every day
more than one million American lives simply blown away

More than a million birthdays
a million graduations
more than a million weddings
with a million expectations
how can anyone justify this annihilation?
why is it we never get a convincing explanation?

more than one million Americans -- grandparents, husbands, wives
more than one million American permanently interrupted lives
more than one million Americans -- co-workers and friends
more than one million Americans met heartbreaking ends

More than one million Americans who needed our protection
more than one million Americans who can't vote the next election
more than one million Americans who no longer have a choice
for more than a million Americans we must raise up our voice

In 1968 Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King
were killed by bullets, a tragic shameful thing
in the years that followed in this land of the free
more than a million Americans died in shooting sprees